1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of information handling system peripherals, and more particularly to a system and method for configuring information handling system networked peripherals, such as printers interfaced with a local area network.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling systems often interact with a number of peripherals to communicate, print or otherwise process information, such as printers, scanners, switches and routers. Often these peripherals are interfaced over local area networks so that, for instance, multiple information handling systems can use the same peripheral, such as to print information. Typically information handling system peripherals are networked with dynamic configuration information using standardized dynamic configuration functions. One example of a dynamic configuration function commonly used for newly interfaced peripherals is the use of dynamic Internet Protocol (IP) addresses provided by the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). Other dynamic configuration functions used to establish a network interface with a peripheral include Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP) and Reverse Address Resolution Protocol (RARP).
Although dynamic configuration protocols are generally available for interfacing peripherals to a local area network, in some instances dynamic configurations are either unavailable or undesirable. When dynamic configuration is unavailable, configuration of the peripheral generally involves interaction by a user with a TCP/IP setup utility accessed through a physically interfaced information handling system. This utility typically requires the user to enter the canonical or MAC address of the peripheral, an error prone process given the complexity of the address and the non-intuitive nature of the setup utility. After entry of the information, network communication with the peripheral is typically established by using a temporary IP address generated through an incremental increase of the system running the setup utility until an unused IP address is found. The finding of an unused IP address may be a time consuming process where a number of incremental increases are needed. When a dynamic configuration is available but undesired, a user typically must interface with an operations panel of the peripheral, either directly or through a network, to reset the peripheral to a static IP address. For instance, dynamic IP addresses use IP leasing and are subject to change without warning, often an unacceptable solution in large local area networks. Establishing a static IP address through the network generally involves technically complex interactions through the network server to an embedded server of the peripheral with a dynamic IP address in order to establish a static IP address. Direct interaction with the peripheral operations panel is often confusing since peripheral interfaces tend to be uninformative and non-intuitive. In either case, the dynamic configuration functions of the peripheral typically must be manually disabled to prevent inadvertent alteration of the static configuration information.